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"Sports Quote of the Day"
“The next time you feel slightly uncomfortable with the pressure in your life, remember no pressure, no diamonds. Pressure is a part of success.” ~ Eric Thomas, Motivational Speaker, Author and Minister
TRENDING: Nashville Predators Vs. Chicago Blackhawks, Friday, 04/13/2017, 1st round Stanley Cup Playoff Preview. Who has the edges in Blackhawks-Predators series? (See the hockey section for Blackhawks updates and NHL news).
TRENDING: Chicago Bears predicted to be 7-9 in 2017. (See the football section for Bears news and NFL updates).
TRENDING: Brooklyn Nets Vs. Chicago Bulls preview, 04/12/2017. (See the basketball section for Bulls news and NBA updates).
TRENDING: What the World Series banner flying over Wrigley Field means to Cubs fans. (See the baseball section for Cubs and White Sox updates).
TRENDING: USA, Mexico and Canada announce joint bid to host 2026 World Cup. (See the soccer section for worldwide soccer news and league updates).
TRENDING: The 12 most intriguing (or confusing) hires of the college basketball coaching carousel. (See the NCAABKB section for team news and tournament updates).
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Nashville Predators Vs. Chicago Blackhawks, Friday, 04/13/2017, 1st round Stanley Cup Playoff Preview. Who has the edges in Blackhawks-Predators series?
By Tracey Myers
Well the first two series were so fun, let’s do it again.
When the Blackhawks and Nashville Predators meet in their first-round series beginning on Thursday, there won’t be many surprises. You know what you get with each team.
There isn’t much more of an intro we can give you here, so let’s look at who has the edge in various categories.
FORWARDS
The Blackhawks will enter this postseason in much better shape among their forward lines. Their top three lines are pretty much set – they have things to figure out on the fourth – and production has been across the board. Six Blackhawks forwards have 20 or more goals this season. Ryan Hartman, who finished with 19 goals, was close to joining that group. The Predators do pretty well in this department, too. Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg have led the charge, each scoring 31 goals this season. James Neal, who came on toward the end of the 2015 series between these two, scored 23 this season. Both teams have their offensive weapons. EDGE: Even.
DEFENSE
The Predators went through their big change here in the offseason when they acquired P.K. Subban from Montreal for Shea Weber. Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis are their other steady guys back there. The Blackhawks gained some depth again with re-acquiring Johnny Oduya at the trade deadline. Niklas Hjalmarsson missed the last few games while he and his wife awaited the birth of their second son. He’ll be ready to go. Will Duncan Keith have the series he did against these guys in 2015? That possibility, combined with the Blackhawks’ experience at this time of year… EDGE: Blackhawks.
POWER PLAY
Neither team is outstanding overall on the advantage. The Blackhawks are 19th in the league with an 18 percent success rate and the Predators are 16th overall at 18.9 percent. The Predators were damn good on the power play at home this season (sixth in the NHL). Still, this one appears to be a draw. EDGE: Even.
PENALTY KILL
The Blackhawks finished the regular season ranked 24th in this category. Although considering their horrific start to the season on the kill, that ranking comes with a bit of an asterisk. Since March 1 the Blackhawks have killed off 37 of 44 power plays, so it was more reliable at the end. And this has always been their strength in the playoffs. The Predators are 15th in the league overall on the kill but they’re outstanding on the road (ninth in the NHL at 83.3 percent). That’ll come in handy at the United Center. EDGE: Even.
GOALTENDING
Corey Crawford started the season as strong as ever. Even though he had more ups and downs following his appendectomy he still put together another great season. Pekka Rinne was as inconsistent as the rest of the Predators through most of this season but was good at the end, going 6-3-1 in his final 10 outings. Yes, we all remember what happened to Crawford in this series two seasons ago. He came back to finish it. In between Scott Darling was stellar, and the Blackhawks still have that nice 1-2 punch in net. EDGE: Blackhawks.
INTANGIBLES
You look through the stats between these two teams and there are a lot of similarities. But as the gents at 102.5 The Game in Nashville said, the Blackhawks always seem to find a way to get that needed goal, to make that critical play. That’s part of the intangibles that are so crucial during the postseason. You’ve got guys who have been here, done this before and it shows at this time of year. The timely goals, plays, ability to weather situations that don’t go your way; when it comes to the intangibles… EDGE: Blackhawks.
Artem Anisimov set to return for Blackhawks in Game 1 vs. Predators.
By Tracey Myers
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
It was frustrating for Artem Anisimov to miss the final month of the regular season. The second-line center was at the top of his game when he suffered an injury to his left leg in Montreal on March 14.
Still, there are silver linings to everything; in Anisimov’s case, it’s being ready for the postseason, which it appears he will be.
“I was happy about this news and I started getting ready for the playoffs. The staff did a tremendous job with conditioning for me and I’m ready to play,” Anisimov said on Tuesday. “Get ready for the first game, and here I am.”
Anisimov will be back, as will Niklas Hjalmarsson, when the Blackhawks begin their first-round series against the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Anisimov has been skating for about a week now, and he doesn’t foresee any limitations with his game – “I’m going to continue to go to the net and play hard every shift and do all my stuff,” he said.
Coach Joel Quenneville doesn’t foresee any issues, either.
“He looked good, handled everything well. He said he felt good conditioning-wise and health-wise, so all good,” Quenneville said of Anisimov’s practice on Tuesday, his first since sustaining his injury.
“Arty does a lot of things for you. Special teams, both units. Faceoffs, that line, big minutes, matchups and predictability defensively, and offensively getting to the net. So he knows his role and does it very well,” Quenneville continued. “He really adds something to our lineup because he's so useful in ways, and that's an important spot for us. It's good to (see him) back.”
The line did well in Anisimov’s absence, with Tanner Kero centering Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin for a majority of those games. But the chemistry between the two wings and Anisimov has always been strong, and it should be rekindled quickly.
“It was good to see him back on the ice,” Kane said. “We know he hasn’t played in a while, so I think for us just keep it simple and for him, he does a lot of simple things on the ice anyways. So, it’ll be good to get him going back to the front of the net, and hopefully we’ll be shooting pucks there and get some bounces. But it’s great to have him back. Obviously we missed him, and it’ll be huge going down the stretch here to have him in the lineup.”
There will probably be a little rust, regardless of how good Anisimov feels. Game action hard to replicate in a practice and conditioning work, let alone playoff game action. But Anisimov feels great, and whatever rust there will be, he expects to shed it relatively fast.
“It’s a little bit of pressure. I think after the first shift it’s going to go away,” Anisimov said. “It’s going to be the feeling of the game again and it’ll come back after the first shift.”
Briefly:
- Niklas Hjalmarsson also returned to practice on Tuesday. He and his wife welcomed their second child a few days ago.
- Michal Rozsival, who was injured when Anaheim forward Nick Ritchie punched him in last Thursday’s game against the Ducks, underwent surgery to repair facial fractures on Tuesday. Dr. Michael Terry said in a statement, “surgery went well and he is expected to make a full recovery.”
- Andrew Desjardins is still day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained against the Ducks.
By Charlie Roumeliotis
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Artemi Panarin might want to call his grandpa, because he has good news to share.
After finishing the 2016-17 campaign tied for 10th among forwards with 74 points, the 25-year-old Russian winger officially cashed in on his Schedule B $1.725 million bonus for the second straight year. He scored a goal in the Blackhawks' regular-season finale to push himself into the top-10.
In addition to the Schedule B bonus, Panarin also hit all of his Schedule A bonuses worth a total of $850,000. He earned $212,500 each by recording at least 20 goals, 35 assists, 60 points and finishing in the top-six among Blackhawks forwards in ice time.
In total, Panarin collected $2.575 million in bonuses this season. That number will count against the salary cap next season, when his two-year, $12 million kicks in as well.
It's a hefty price to pay for the cap-strapped Blackhawks, but given Panarin's contributions over the last two years on an entry-level deal that had a base salary of $812,500, he's been worth every cent.
Blackhawks open 2017 playoffs as Stanley Cup favorites.
By Charlie Roumeliotis
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Blackhawks' quest for a fourth title in eight years will begin Thursday against the Nashville Predators, and the public likes their chances of winning the first round and also the three after that.
According to Bovada, Chicago is entering the playoffs as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup at 4/1 odds. The Blackhawks wrapped up the regular season with a 50-23-9 record, and captured the Central Division title and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with 109 points.
It's the second time in franchise history they've recorded at least 50 wins, with the first being 2009-10 (52), a year they snapped a 49-year championship drought.
Right behind the Blackhawks is the Washington Capitals, who boast 9/2 odds after winning the Presidents' Trophy for most points (118) this season.
The Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins are tied for third-best odds at 8/1, followed by the Columbus Blue Jackets (10/1), Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, San Jose Sharks (14/1), and Edmonton Oilers (16/1).
The bottom-six is rounded out by the Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs (25/1), Ottawa Senators (28/1) and St. Louis Blues (33/1).
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! Chicago Bears predicted to be 7-9 in 2017.
By Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.
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(Photo/Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports)
The Chicago Bears have won a grand total of 9 games in the two years of the Ryan Pace - John Fox era. The team seemed to regress a little in year two, but how much of that can be attributed to the rash of injuries the team suffered through? Football Outsiders recently crunched the injury numbers and the Bears had the most games lost due to injury in the league. Not only did they lead the NFL in Adjusted Games Lost in 2016, but they had the highest ever total in the history of them tracking the stat.
Football Outsiders is also in the projecting business and they have the Chicago Bears down for a 7-9 season in 2017. That’s good for a 3rd place NFC North finish. Where do they get their projections you may ask? The formula is built around their Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) ratings, the strength of schedule and other calculations.
Here’s how they have the NFC North playing out and what they said about the Bears.
3. Chicago Bears: 7-9 (7.0 mean wins; SOS: 13)
The Bears will have a better defense and get closer to .500, thanks to defensive back additions in free agency and returning injured players, including Kyle Fuller and Lamarr Houston. Minnesota's projection is a bit of a surprise, until you realize just how poor the Vikings were in the second half of last season: 24th in offensive DVOA and 19th in defensive DVOA from Week 10 onward.
NFL Draft: Bears have had close look at one quarterback option outside the usual suspects.
By John Mullin
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Bears' emphasis at the top of their 2017 draft is expected to be on defense. General manager Ryan Pace has his time in personnel with the New Orleans Saints as a template of how to build a winning organization. That obviously started with a franchise quarterback in Drew Brees but also included six straight years (2008 to 2013) spending the top draft pick on defense.
But one thing Pace has done at the quarterback position this offseason has been to give his organization multiple chances for successful hits at certain positions — cornerback, for one, and including the most important one: quarterback, with Mike Glennon, Mark Sanchez, explorations of deals. Pace has not picked a quarterback through either of his first two drafts, but some of that had to do with then-offensive coordinator Adam Gase adamantly lobbying that the Bears had enough in place with Jay Cutler at that time. After Gase left, Pace moved for Brian Hoyer as a proven No. 2 (with a better record at that time as a starter than Cutler).
It would be unlike Pace not to continue creating more opportunities with major upside at the central position of the franchise, and the Bears are expected to strike for a quarterback later this month.
But who? And when?
During the NFL owners meetings last month, Bears senior football management sounded very much like an organization not feeling pressure to draft a quarterback, at least not at the top of the draft beginning in a couple weeks. One obvious reason was that Pace and the John Fox coaching staff like the upside of Glennon and the depth-chart experience that came in with Sanchez.
"(Glennon) has been steady, he's been consistent, he just hasn't had a lot of opportunity," Fox said. "But everybody that I've known that's been around him both in college football and pro football people that I respect and know pretty well feel really good about him moving forward."
"Feel really good" is not always conclusive evidence of anything, and Pace clearly could go with the nuclear option of grabbing Clemson's Deshaun Watson at No. 3 or elsewhere in Round 1. Or DeShone Kizer or Mitchell Trubisky or Patrick Mahomes or a player to be named later, for that matter.
Which is where this becomes particularly interesting. Because the Bears arguably have an ever-so-slight lead on one significant prospect as the NFL comes spinning out of the final turn.
One of the clearly stated benefits of Fox and staff coaching the North squad at the Senior Bowl was the up-close work with prospects, beyond just game tape, Combine interviews or other incidental contact. Scouts may be able to watch players through practice weeks during the college season, but coaches only have them for interviews at the Combine and monitoring the accompanying drills.
Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone had Senior Bowl week, including position-group meetings, to form an informed opinion on Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman, generally regarded as a likely mid-round pick, as Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson were.
One thought: If Pace seemed comfortable with his quarterback situation, the reason might be in part because his coaches and personnel staff saw what they wanted to in Peterman to amply satisfy the franchise's need for a true developmental quarterback on the roster, something Pace has not selected in his first two Bears drafts.
Peterman has had workouts lined up with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans and New England Patriots (and obviously, if the Patriots like you, you really must be special).
After the Senior Bowl experience, the Bears met with Peterman again at the Combine. He's not generally regarded as a first-round selection, and the Bears have reportedly focused elsewhere in private session (safeties Jamal Adams, Malik Hooker, Josh Jones; cornerback Marshon Lattimore; defensive linemen Myles Garrett, Jonathan Allen; tight ends Evan Engram, O.J. Howard, to name some).
Pace could go a third draft without selecting a quarterback; from the time the Saints acquired Brees in 2006 through Pace's move to Chicago after 2014, a run of nine years, New Orleans drafted exactly one quarterback, Sean Canfield in the 2010 seventh round.
But he's been about adding options and competition, and his coaching staff already has seen, up close, one popular, quietly rising prospect.
"Working with that staff, the Bears, was unbelievable experience," Peterman said during the Combine.
What remains now is seeing whether the Bears felt the same about working with him.
Bears preseason schedule announced
By Larry Mayer
(Photo/chicagobears.com)
The Bears will open the preseason this summer just as they did last year—by hosting the Denver Broncos the weekend of Aug. 10-14 at Soldier Field.
After facing the Broncos, the Bears will play back-to-back road games. They'll visit the Cardinals in Arizona the weekend of Aug. 17-21 and the Titans in Tennessee at noon on Sunday, Aug. 27 in a nationally-televised game on Fox.
The Bears will then close the preseason by hosting the Browns at Soldier Field Aug. 31 or Sept. 1. The two teams have met in the preseason finale every year since 2004, with the Bears holding a 7-6 advantage.
The exact dates and times for the games against the Broncos, Cardinals and Browns will be released at a later date. All three of those contests will be produced and broadcast by the Chicago Bears Network and shown live on Fox32 Chicago and stations throughout the Midwest.
All four contests also will be broadcast on WBBM radio (780 AM and 105.9 FM) featuring Jeff Joniak on play-by-play and Tom Thayer as color analyst.
The NFL regular-season schedule is expected to be announced later this month. In addition to home and away games against the Lions, Packers and Vikings, the Bears are slated to host the Falcons, Panthers, Browns, Steelers and 49ers and visit the Ravens, Bengals, Saints, Buccaneers and Eagles.
Last season the Bears lost their first three preseason games to the Broncos 22-0, Patriots 23-22 and Chiefs 23-7 before beating the Browns 21-7.
Bears continue shakeup in secondary with release of CB Tracy Porter.
#BearsTalk
(Photo/USA TODAY)
In a move with likely implications for the upcoming 2017 draft and foreshadowed when the Bears moved in free agency to sign presumed starting cornerbacks Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper, the Bears on Monday waived veteran cornerback Tracy Porter.
The Bears already had targeted the secondary aggressively in free agency with a one-year deal for Amukamara, 27, and a three-year contract with Cooper, both starters at Jacksonville and Arizona, respectively. And the 2017 draft is informally rated as one of the best ever for defensive backs, cornerbacks in particular.
Various outlets have posited the Bears selecting Ohio State cornerback Marshon Lattimore with the No. 3 pick overall, although analysts have predicted that starter-grade cornerbacks will be available as late as the fourth round.
Porter, the senior member of the secondary and its acknowledged group leader (members met at Porter’s house every Thursday during the season to talk football and watch film together), had been a second-round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2008 while Bears GM Ryan Pace was a member of the New Orleans personnel department. After single seasons in Denver, Oakland and Washington, Porter came to the Bears in 2015 on a one-year contract and was re-signed last offseason to a three-year deal with $4.25 million guaranteed out of a $12 million package.
Porter, who turns 31 in August, was due to make $3.5 million in 2017. But he was also part of a secondary that produced historically low takeaways the past two seasons, although Porter was perhaps as close to a bright spot as the secondary had. He collected 48 tackles, two interceptions, 13 pass breakups and one forced fumble last season. In his two seasons with the Bears, Porter led the club in pass breakups (35), while also posting his top two single-season career marks in the same category (22 in 2015 and 13 in 2016).
Porter has started 88-of-98 career contests, posting 374 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 13 interceptions, 77 pass breakups, seven forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 17 tackles for a loss and three defensive scores. He has also appeared in six postseason games (six starts), totaling 32 tackles, two interceptions – including one returned for a touchdown – three pass breakups, two tackles for a loss and one forced fumble.
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session..... Brooklyn Nets Vs. Chicago Bulls preview, 04/12/2017.
By winnersandwhiners.com
NBA: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at Chicago United Center, 8:00pm EST
The Chicago Bulls will host the Brooklyn Nets in the regular season finale Wednesday night from the United Center. The Nets are coming off a 114-105 road loss to the Celtics, and the Bulls crushed the Magic by a 122-75 score in their latest action. The Bulls have won two of three over the Nets this season.
Nets competitive in loss to Celtics
The Brooklyn Nets played hard but could not get their shots to fall in a 114-105 road loss to the Celtics on Monday night. The Nets shot a poor 36% from the field, and went 8 for 31 from three-point range. Jeremy Lin led the way offensively with 26 points and added 12 rebounds. The 28-year old point guard is playing well, scoring at least 15 points in three out of his last four games, and is now up to 14.5 points per game. Brook Lopez also had a decent night, sinking 25 points on 10 for 21 shooting. The seven-foot center has shot below 50% in three straight games, and is now averaging a team-leading 20.5 points per game. Lopez is averaging 19.6 points over three games against the Bulls this season. The Nets are playing well to close out the season, going 4-2 over their last six games and they were very competitive in their latest loss. Brooklyn has struggled big time on the road this season, going 7-33.
The Nets are scoring an average of 106.2 points per game, ranking them 12th in the NBA, and are shooting 44.5% as a team. The Nets are very weak defensively, conceding an average of 112.5 points per game, placing them down at 29th in the NBA.
Bulls playoff chase comes down to final game
The Chicago Bulls were in must win mode on Monday night and came up big in a 122-75 blowout win over the Magic. Chicago needed to win to keep pace with the Heat who also won on Monday night, and the teams are tied for the final playoff spot with identical 40-41 record with one game remaining. Here is a look at the complicated playoff scenario. The Bulls shot a dazzling 53.9% from the field, and played outstanding defense in Monday’s win, holding Orlando to 34.5% shooting. Robin Lopez was terrific, going 9 for 14 from the field for 18 points along with eight rebounds. The 29-year old center is on a 16 for 25 stretch from the field, and is now averaging 10.4 points per game. Jimmy Butler cooled down a bit on Monday night, posting 17 points on 5 for 11 shooting. The 6-foot-7 small forward has been hot, scoring 25 or more points in five out of his last seven games, and is now averaging a team-high 23.9 points per game. The Bulls have won six out of their last eight games and are 24-16 on their home court this season.
Chicago is now scoring an average of 102.8 points per game, ranking them 23rd overall, and are shooting 44.4% from the field. The Bulls are strong defensively, allowing an average of 102.8 points per game, placing them seventh in the NBA.
Trends:
The Brooklyn Nets are:
- No Key Trends
The Chicago Bulls are:
- 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games when their opponent scores 100 or more points in their previous game.
- 13-6 ATS in their last 19 games after scoring 100 or more points in their previous game.
I am taking the Bulls in this one. This is a must win for Chicago and I fully expect the Bulls to control this game from start to finish similar to their 122 point effort over the Magic on Monday night. The Nets have only won seven road games all season, and they have allowed 114 or more points in three straight road games, so the Bulls should have a big night offensively. I also expect the Bulls strong defense to contain the Nets scoring. Go with the Bulls in this one.
Picks: Bulls
By Vincent Goodwill
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
No matter the score or how impressive the Bulls' end-to-end 122-75 win was over the Orlando Magic, the only thing it clinched was a better point differential, as they are now through 81 games and needing one more to qualify for the NBA Playoffs.
It certainly looked pretty, as the sight of another game with double-digit 3-point makes as well as shooting over 50 percent was necessary, along with Dwyane Wade playing another 22 minutes to get himself in a rhythm before the playoffs.
If the playoffs happen, because the Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime while the Bulls' game had yet to go final, meaning it could take a win over the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday to clinch a playoff spot.
If there's a position you'd want to be in — as unnecessary as it seems — you'd want to come off a game where six players were in double figures. Assists were tossed around like rice at a wedding as the Bulls looked cohesive for the night, compared to a lethargic showing — something the Bulls are wont to do.
Having 33 assists on 48 field goals is set to be a recipe for success against most teams and the Bulls needed a wire-to-wire win to restore some confidence headed into the regular-season finale Wednesday.
"If we don't win the game, we don't deserve to be in. Simple as that," Wade said. "We took care of business, we beat a team we were supposed to beat here on our home floor, and it's the same thing we're supposed to do on Wednesday."
Robin Lopez led the Bulls with 18 points and Jimmy Butler scored 17 in 31 minutes, in a game that seemed over shortly after 7:15 local time.
"I think the big thing was our energy right out the gate," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "That's something we talk about. Today we got out with the ball and played with pace and our guys were really unselfish with the ball."
Against one of the more youthful and athletic clubs in the league, albeit an underachieving one, the Bulls looked like the young and athletic bunch for the first time in a long time.
It's not to say Wade looked 10 years younger but he's feeling closer and closer to his usual form, while not trying to disrupt the ball movement and spacing style that was established in his absence.
"Tonight was a good game for everyone to be involved and feel good about themselves," Wade said. "We look forward to playing the team again that stole a game from us a couple days ago."
Hoiberg said: "I thought he looked comfortable tonight. His rhythm was better and you could tell his legs were better. He just had to get that first one out of the way."
Getting out of the break early and often, the Bulls made the contest look like target practice, throwing multiple alley-oops, complete with uncontested breakaways and backdoor cuts against a defense that displayed an indifference similar to a team that longs for Wednesday to come and go as quick as possible.
Taking a lead that reached 30 before the half and extended to as much as 47 in the second half, little time, energy and emotion was wasted before the eyes of the important people turned to what was going on in South Beach.
Off and running for the better part of 48 minutes, the Bulls wasted no time, looking nothing like the inconsistent bunch that took turns showing up or falling asleep last week on their east coast swing.
Jerian Grant had a career-high 11 assists in the absence of Rajon Rondo, who is still out with a right wrist sprain — a sprain Hoiberg deemed "significant" in the pregame — and with no real sign of a definitive return.
Grant has averaged 15.6 points, seven assists and four rebounds in three games since being reinserted as starter.
"Jerian has been great," Hoiberg said. "It's obviously huge shoes to fill with Rajon out. Jerian has done a terrific job of going out and playing with confidence. He made the right play and right read."
Making more of an impression for the playoffs than one might've expected — should the Bulls qualify — Grant made the case he should be on the floor no matter who on the roster is available.
"It feels good to go in and play well after being taken out of the rotation, especially these last couple games that we need to win. It means a lot for me," Grant said. "It's one game and we're in."
Just as things have been all season, the answers on the Bulls won't come until the final day of the regular season, it appears, where opportunity or disaster is at their door.
CUBS: What the World Series banner flying over Wrigley Field means to Cubs fans.
By Tony Andracki
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Tears flowed almost as freely at Wrigley Field Monday night as the rain that tried its hardest to dampen the spirit of the championship ceremony.
Before the Cubs could raise the first World Series banner Wrigley Field has ever seen, the nearly 41,000 fans in attendance had to sit through a rain delay that lasted nearly two hours.
The weather started out gorgeous — in the low 70s with clouds dotting the Chicago skyline. But right around when first pitch was supposed to take place, the skies opened up and fans were forced to run for cover, which was not ideal for bleacher bums who got there early for first-come, first-serve seats to see where the banners would be raised in the Wrigley outfield.
By the time the pregame festivities kicked off, it was in the mid-30s with wind-chill. In other words: classic Chicago weather.
But nothing could dull the sensation of the night — a momentous occasion that saw Cubs legends in attendance like Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg and Fergie Jenkins (and of course Eddie Vedder was there, too).
The refrain was the same for nearly all fans: They weren't even worried about trying to get the game in with the rain. They were just anxious to see the banner hoisted, a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Cubs did the fans right, first sending up the 1907 and 1908 championship banners and then bringing the Cubs players out into the right field bleachers, parading them through a screaming mob of fans in the newly-minted gold-speckled home jerseys.
The players then helped Williams raise the 2016 National League pennant before the World Series banner went up.
Among fans in attendance were 11-year-old Cole — who waited his whole life to see the Cubs win it all — and Phil Grinstead — who, a lifetime ago, was No. 16 on the list of season tickets in franchise history with seats that used to be front row down the left field line before the bullpens were moved under the bleachers and an extra few rows of seats added.
Cole and Phil — along with Jovani, Adam, Bob, Jack, Erin, Allison, Jennifer, Rick and others — explain what this championship banner means to them and the emotions running through the fanbase with these flags flying high over Wrigley Field for the rest of eternity.
"They say all glory is fleeting," Cubs president Theo Epstein said, "and it is, but the flag will fly forever."
Cubs thinking bigger and better after raising World Series banner.
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Cubs walked across the grass on Monday night, like some sort of "Field of Dreams" update, and disappeared under the bleachers. Jake Arrieta rubbed his hands together as they approached Wrigley Field's iconic scoreboard. Three Hall of Famers – Ryne Sandberg (1907), Fergie Jenkins (1908) and Billy Williams (2016 National League pennant) raised the first three flags.
Surrounded by teammates, Anthony Rizzo then began pulling the cord that lifted the 2016 World Series banner, the ceremony running live on ESPN for a team that has crossed over into so many different parts of popular culture. A crowd of 41,166 that must have sat through parts of the 108-year drought waited out a rain delay that would last almost two hours before first pitch.
By 8:38 p.m., Rizzo emerged from the doors that break up the brick wall in right-center field, holding the World Series trophy above his head as AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll) blasted from the sound system.
"I wasn't expecting to get hit by that many emotions," Rizzo said, looking back after knocking a Kenley Jansen cutter into the left-field corner for a 3-2 walk-off win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I was fighting back tears."
To be honest, a franchise that doesn't really do subtle or understated created a championship banner that's kind of hard to see. But, whatever, there's room for more flagpoles at the beginning of this golden age of baseball on the North Side.
"The new generation of Cubs fans is spoiled," Jon Lester said. "Our guys are so young – as long as health stays on our side – I feel like we'll compete. Our goal every year is to win a World Series."
If the Dodgers didn't get enough flashbacks from the rain-delay theater on the giant video board – the Cubs showed highlights from last year's Game 6 of the NL Championship Series – Lester again looked like a co-MVP (one run allowed in six innings) against a lineup that has so many issues with lefties.
These two big-market teams appear to be on another collision course. The defending World Series champs started seven 27-and-under players, including an October legend (Kyle Schwarber), a reigning MVP (Kris Bryant), a Silver Slugger/Gold Glove first baseman (Rizzo), an All-Star shortstop (Addison Russell), a rocket-armed catcher (Willson Contreras) and two of the game's best defensive players (Jason Heyward and Javier Baez).
"We're all still hungry," Schwarber said. "We're not satisfied with what we did last year. Obviously, it was a great accomplishment. To bring it back to the city of Chicago was great. But now we got to do it again.
"We know the talent that we have. We know how good we could be for some years down the road. But no one can predict the future."
This night – which actually ended on Tuesday morning – would be bigger than the 25 guys in the underground clubhouse that opened last year with a hyperbaric chamber, an underwater treadmill, an infrared sauna and a party room for postgame celebrations.
One entrance to the clubhouse – around the corner from Joe Maddon's office and outside the press-conference room – now displays the image of the "WE DID NOT SUCK 2016" brick wall that filled up with spontaneous messages written in chalk after the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians last November.
Hanging out in the home dugout before the game, you saw a rock star (Eddie Vedder), a Hockey Hall of Famer (Chris Chelios) and Fortune magazine's "World's Greatest Leader" (Theo Epstein). Watching David Ross on "Dancing with the Stars" became another rain-delay diversion on the video board.
"This is the lowest-maintenance group I've ever been around," Epstein said. "They handled the target on their back last year so well, and this year they're handling the fact that they won and avoiding that complacency better than I could've imagined.
"We don't have to do anything. They're just so focused and so hard-working. They understand that they need to approach this with all the intensity they did last year if they want to get back to a point where they can enjoy that special feeling late in the year again.
"It's been a total non-issue. When first pitch is thrown, they're locked in."
By the last pitch, there were rows and rows of empty green seats. The bleachers had cleared out to the point where you could see the garbage. Chairman Tom Ricketts stood in the first row off the on-deck circle as Rizzo beat an $80 million closer, pumped his fist, tossed aside his helmet and got mobbed by teammates between first and second base. After the biggest moment of their lives, the 2017 Cubs are just getting started.
"In a game like tonight versus a tough team, it builds confidence in our group this year that this is what we do," Rizzo said. "This is who we are."
Cubs pull out walk-off win over Dodgers on festive night at Wrigley. (Home Opener, Monday night, 04/10/2017).
By Tony Andracki
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Roughly four hours after Anthony Rizzo carried the World Series trophy out onto Wrigley Field to show off to the Cubs fans in attendance, the face of the franchise delivered the game-deciding hit.
New Cub Jon Jay scored the walk-off winner on Rizzo's two-out hit as the Cubs pulled off a 3-2 win in the bottom of the ninth in the Wrigley Field opener.
However, thanks to a rain delay that lasted nearly two hours, this Cubs victory came early Tuesday morning as most of the 41,166 fans in attendance had gone home to warm up and stay dry after a 36-degree wind-chill at first pitch.
It was a festive atmosphere at Wrigley - a "special night," as Joe Maddon, Jon Lester, Addison Russell and Rizzo all used that same phrase to describe the dreamlike sequence that played out at the "Friendly Confines."
Jay pinch hit for Albert Almora and led off the 10th with a single to right field. Pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella advanced Jay with a groundout to shortstop. Kris Bryant struck out to follow, but Rizzo fought off a tough pitch into the left-field corner to plate Jay.
Sporting another Maddon lineup that paid tribute to the World Series team, the Cubs jumped out to an early lead behind Lester with a Bryant RBI double in the third inning to score Kyle Schwarber.
The next inning, Russell came around to score on Lester's fielder's choice.
But the Dodgers mounted a comeback against Lester and the Cubs bullpen, plating solo tallies in the sixth and eighth innings, the latter coming on an Addison Russell throwing error.
Lester finished with just the one run allowed in six strong innings, striking out seven and surrendering four hits and a walk.
Wade Davis got the win after tossing a scoreless top of the ninth.
Rizzo summed up the night/early morning perfectly:
"I'll remember this day for as long as I play baseball."
WHITE SOX: Carlos Rodon makes progress as White Sox continue rehab with caution.
By Dan Hayes
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Pitcher Carlos Rodon has made steady progress over the past two weeks, but he has yet to throw off a mound.
White Sox manager Rick Renteria said Tuesday that Rodon will remain on his throwing program in Glendale, Ariz. and is set to be re-evaluated when the club returns home next week.
Rodon began the program 15 days ago after a he experienced bicep tightness and shutdown all activity. Last week, general manager Rick Hahn said he thought Rodon might begin throwing off the mound sometime this week. Renteria said he isn't sure what the plan calls for before Rodon is re-evaluated when White Sox begin their next home-stand on April 21.
"He's doing good," Renteria said. "He felt good. Just read the report. Threw. He's going to continue to progress. I think we'll re-evaluate him when we get back home.
"He's doing good. He's moving along positively since we've had to make the adjustment with him. He's feeling good."
On the 10-day disabled list to start the season, Rodon began the spring on a slow throwing program with the intention of combating the fatigue he experienced last July. He made his first exhibition start March 19 and threw 65 pitches over four scoreless innings, striking out five.
But four days later, Rodon felt tightness in his throwing shoulder.
Rodon was cleared to return after he passed a series of tests and started to throw on March 27. But Hahn suggested on April 3 that the White Sox would remain extremely cautious with their young left-hander. He said where Rodon's reset began isn't dissimilar to pitchers at the start of spring training and suggested it could be a 5-6 week process. Even so, Hahn expressed optimism that Rodon was on the right path.
"Carlos is on his throwing program," Hahn said on April 3. "The 10th will be two weeks. He's been throwing off of flat ground, he says he feels real good. If that continues to be the pace he's on, we'll starting getting him off a mound around the 10th with a specific program for him which will include a rehab assignment at some point...
"Knock on wood, health permitting, I don't necessarily see it taking the full six, like a normal spring training. But again, we're going to take our time on this one. If there's the least bit of discomfort or any stuff like that, we're going to take a step back and start this thing over. As I told Carlos directly, there's zero reason for us to rush through this."
Renteria also said that Dylan Covey will make his first start on Friday at the Minnesota Twins. A Rule 5 pick, Covey has built up by throwing in the bullpen and on Saturday he traveled to Glendale and threw 85 pitches in a start in extended spring training.
White Sox manager Rick Renteria said Tuesday that Rodon will remain on his throwing program in Glendale, Ariz. and is set to be re-evaluated when the club returns home next week.
Rodon began the program 15 days ago after a he experienced bicep tightness and shutdown all activity. Last week, general manager Rick Hahn said he thought Rodon might begin throwing off the mound sometime this week. Renteria said he isn't sure what the plan calls for before Rodon is re-evaluated when White Sox begin their next home-stand on April 21.
"He's doing good," Renteria said. "He felt good. Just read the report. Threw. He's going to continue to progress. I think we'll re-evaluate him when we get back home.
"He's doing good. He's moving along positively since we've had to make the adjustment with him. He's feeling good."
On the 10-day disabled list to start the season, Rodon began the spring on a slow throwing program with the intention of combating the fatigue he experienced last July. He made his first exhibition start March 19 and threw 65 pitches over four scoreless innings, striking out five.
But four days later, Rodon felt tightness in his throwing shoulder.
Rodon was cleared to return after he passed a series of tests and started to throw on March 27. But Hahn suggested on April 3 that the White Sox would remain extremely cautious with their young left-hander. He said where Rodon's reset began isn't dissimilar to pitchers at the start of spring training and suggested it could be a 5-6 week process. Even so, Hahn expressed optimism that Rodon was on the right path.
"Carlos is on his throwing program," Hahn said on April 3. "The 10th will be two weeks. He's been throwing off of flat ground, he says he feels real good. If that continues to be the pace he's on, we'll starting getting him off a mound around the 10th with a specific program for him which will include a rehab assignment at some point...
"Knock on wood, health permitting, I don't necessarily see it taking the full six, like a normal spring training. But again, we're going to take our time on this one. If there's the least bit of discomfort or any stuff like that, we're going to take a step back and start this thing over. As I told Carlos directly, there's zero reason for us to rush through this."
Renteria also said that Dylan Covey will make his first start on Friday at the Minnesota Twins. A Rule 5 pick, Covey has built up by throwing in the bullpen and on Saturday he traveled to Glendale and threw 85 pitches in a start in extended spring training.
How the White Sox shifted their draft philosophy to emphasize more data analysis.
By Dan Hayes
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
For a second straight year, Nick Hostetler and the White Sox amateur scouting department have taken an added emphasis on objective data into the field when evaluating draft talent.
The White Sox haven’t at all abandoned their scouting-based philosophy but merely supplemented their previous approach with an additional tool. Though it has only been in place for one draft, the strategy’s impact on the franchise is easily recognizable. Last year’s first three position players selected -- Zack Collins in the first round, Alex Call (third) and Jameson Fisher (fourth) -- all rose up the team’s draft board because of objective data analysis.
“A guy that you may tools-wise may downgrade a little bit, it may put him back in play for you,” said Hostetler, the club’s amateur scouting director. “No part of the analytics ever makes a decision or gives us our order.
“It’s just another piece of the puzzle, just like the makeup part of it, just like the signability part of it. It’s weighted along those lines. It’s more of a supplemental piece to what we’re doing scouting-wise.
“The scouting aspect of it is still number one, that carries the heaviest weight for us. Then the analytics part comes in to supplement it, good, bad, indifferent.”
The philosophical change came about when the White Sox reshuffled the amateur scouting department in August 2015. Then-scouting director Doug Laumann was named the senior advisor to scouting operations while Hostetler was elevated from assistant amateur scouting director.
In discussing the direction they wanted to head, Hostetler and general manager Rick Hahn did a routine review of three- and five-year old draft classes. They looked hard at successful players who were selected earlier by other franchises compared to where they ranked on the White Sox draft board.
If Player A was drafted 75th overall by Team B and the White Sox had him ranked 112th, they wanted to know why. The goal was to determine if analytics had played a significant role in the other team’s evaluation. A scout since 2002, Hostetler said for him the exercise was a pivotal moment.
“I think when I saw proof of what other teams were doing I realized at that point with Rick that this needs to be a major part of what we’re doing because we’re not using all of our tools and you’ve got to use all of your tools,” Hostetler said.
Whereas the White Sox had previously used analytics, they moved to place a higher emphasis on that usage.
“I don’t think any organization would pass up knowledge or background on any player regardless of whether its as many quality subjective scouting evaluations as you can make, video, video analysis, understanding of a player’s makeup as well as the objective performance data,” Hahn said.
As they prepared for the 2016 draft season, Hostetler addressed a staff that includes 21 full-time area scouts, nine cross checkers and four analysts. He hoped his enthusiasm would sway the department.
Midwest cross checker Garrett Guest said the message -- that the subjective portion of scouting is still critical to the process and won’t be abandoned -- was clearly articulated.
“When (Hostetler) was talking about injecting analytics into what we’re doing he was very clear that he didn’t want this to completely uproot everything that our guys had done and the way they had done their job in the past,” Guest said. “But he wanted to make sure that if there was data available that could help you make a better evaluation and if there’s data available that can maybe either challenge an opinion you made from being at the park, or a previous conceived notion, or previously held belief about a player, and that can challenge your thought process on a guy, that’s a healthy thing.”
Hostetler likes how his staff has responded. He said he felt a liveliness within the club’s draft room last June.
“It was pretty invigorating,” Hostetler said. “That draft room was exciting. I haven’t been a part of a room with that type of energy before.”
The White Sox drafted Collins -- who produced a .319/.472/.601 slash line in three seasons at University of Miami -- with the 10th overall pick. They grabbed hard-throwing right-hander Zack Burdi at No. 26 to end the first day of the draft.
But it was Day 2 where Hahn said the team’s draft board held up well. The White Sox selected pitcher Alec Hansen in the second round and were pleased when Call, who had a .955 career OPS at Ball State (.425 on-base percentage/.530 slugging percentage) was still available in the third round. The were equally happy when Fisher was still undrafted in the fourth round. Fisher missed his junior season at Southeastern Louisiana but rebounded to slash .424/.558/.692 as a senior. He finished his career with a .483 on-base percentage.
“It was our intent to target/acquire as many well-rounded players as we could, still wanting that athletic type of player, but also one who brought a certain ability to play the game and understanding of the game,” Hahn said. “Nick and his staff had those guys in order and we wound up being able to convert on a pleasant number of them.”
Even though he and several members of his team are in the midst of their second straight four-week road trip, Hostetler gets excited whenever the topic shifts to the upcoming draft.
The White Sox have the 11th pick in the first round. They like how they’ve been able to implement the improved information derived from systems like TrackMan into their process. TrackMan is available in a growing number of college stadiums and boasts the tracking of 27 data points per play. If some of the numbers, such as spin rate, indicate a pitcher might have a problem with extension, a scout can evaluate the player in person to determine if the issue is fixable. If it is, a player who might be undervalued based purely on scouting can climb up a draft board.
But Hostetler said the shifted philosophy wouldn’t matter unless the rest of the department was on board.
“A lot of credit goes to our guys who are willing to adapt and adapt to some of my crazy ways,” Hostetler said. “They followed suit.
“They deserve the credit for understanding what I was trying to do and buying into it.”
The White Sox haven’t at all abandoned their scouting-based philosophy but merely supplemented their previous approach with an additional tool. Though it has only been in place for one draft, the strategy’s impact on the franchise is easily recognizable. Last year’s first three position players selected -- Zack Collins in the first round, Alex Call (third) and Jameson Fisher (fourth) -- all rose up the team’s draft board because of objective data analysis.
“A guy that you may tools-wise may downgrade a little bit, it may put him back in play for you,” said Hostetler, the club’s amateur scouting director. “No part of the analytics ever makes a decision or gives us our order.
“It’s just another piece of the puzzle, just like the makeup part of it, just like the signability part of it. It’s weighted along those lines. It’s more of a supplemental piece to what we’re doing scouting-wise.
“The scouting aspect of it is still number one, that carries the heaviest weight for us. Then the analytics part comes in to supplement it, good, bad, indifferent.”
The philosophical change came about when the White Sox reshuffled the amateur scouting department in August 2015. Then-scouting director Doug Laumann was named the senior advisor to scouting operations while Hostetler was elevated from assistant amateur scouting director.
In discussing the direction they wanted to head, Hostetler and general manager Rick Hahn did a routine review of three- and five-year old draft classes. They looked hard at successful players who were selected earlier by other franchises compared to where they ranked on the White Sox draft board.
If Player A was drafted 75th overall by Team B and the White Sox had him ranked 112th, they wanted to know why. The goal was to determine if analytics had played a significant role in the other team’s evaluation. A scout since 2002, Hostetler said for him the exercise was a pivotal moment.
“I think when I saw proof of what other teams were doing I realized at that point with Rick that this needs to be a major part of what we’re doing because we’re not using all of our tools and you’ve got to use all of your tools,” Hostetler said.
Whereas the White Sox had previously used analytics, they moved to place a higher emphasis on that usage.
“I don’t think any organization would pass up knowledge or background on any player regardless of whether its as many quality subjective scouting evaluations as you can make, video, video analysis, understanding of a player’s makeup as well as the objective performance data,” Hahn said.
As they prepared for the 2016 draft season, Hostetler addressed a staff that includes 21 full-time area scouts, nine cross checkers and four analysts. He hoped his enthusiasm would sway the department.
Midwest cross checker Garrett Guest said the message -- that the subjective portion of scouting is still critical to the process and won’t be abandoned -- was clearly articulated.
“When (Hostetler) was talking about injecting analytics into what we’re doing he was very clear that he didn’t want this to completely uproot everything that our guys had done and the way they had done their job in the past,” Guest said. “But he wanted to make sure that if there was data available that could help you make a better evaluation and if there’s data available that can maybe either challenge an opinion you made from being at the park, or a previous conceived notion, or previously held belief about a player, and that can challenge your thought process on a guy, that’s a healthy thing.”
Hostetler likes how his staff has responded. He said he felt a liveliness within the club’s draft room last June.
“It was pretty invigorating,” Hostetler said. “That draft room was exciting. I haven’t been a part of a room with that type of energy before.”
The White Sox drafted Collins -- who produced a .319/.472/.601 slash line in three seasons at University of Miami -- with the 10th overall pick. They grabbed hard-throwing right-hander Zack Burdi at No. 26 to end the first day of the draft.
But it was Day 2 where Hahn said the team’s draft board held up well. The White Sox selected pitcher Alec Hansen in the second round and were pleased when Call, who had a .955 career OPS at Ball State (.425 on-base percentage/.530 slugging percentage) was still available in the third round. The were equally happy when Fisher was still undrafted in the fourth round. Fisher missed his junior season at Southeastern Louisiana but rebounded to slash .424/.558/.692 as a senior. He finished his career with a .483 on-base percentage.
“It was our intent to target/acquire as many well-rounded players as we could, still wanting that athletic type of player, but also one who brought a certain ability to play the game and understanding of the game,” Hahn said. “Nick and his staff had those guys in order and we wound up being able to convert on a pleasant number of them.”
Even though he and several members of his team are in the midst of their second straight four-week road trip, Hostetler gets excited whenever the topic shifts to the upcoming draft.
The White Sox have the 11th pick in the first round. They like how they’ve been able to implement the improved information derived from systems like TrackMan into their process. TrackMan is available in a growing number of college stadiums and boasts the tracking of 27 data points per play. If some of the numbers, such as spin rate, indicate a pitcher might have a problem with extension, a scout can evaluate the player in person to determine if the issue is fixable. If it is, a player who might be undervalued based purely on scouting can climb up a draft board.
But Hostetler said the shifted philosophy wouldn’t matter unless the rest of the department was on board.
“A lot of credit goes to our guys who are willing to adapt and adapt to some of my crazy ways,” Hostetler said. “They followed suit.
“They deserve the credit for understanding what I was trying to do and buying into it.”
Golf: I got a club for that..... A green jacket and a white hat for Sergio.
By Randall Mell
Sergio Garcia pulled off one of the great upsets of the modern era Sunday at the Masters.
Yes, few folks outside Garcia’s inner circle believed he could actually win a major championship, much less a green jacket, with such a formidable history of painful losses stacked against him, but the nature of this upset was even more stunning than that.
Over four hours at Augusta National, Garcia won the hearts and minds of American golf fans.
That’s your monumental upset.
That might have been more impossible for him to win than a major.
Garcia, 37, transformed before our very eyes Sunday, making the improbable journey from villain to hero with every step in his final-round odyssey.
The guy American golf fans loved to hate somehow turned himself into the guy American fans couldn’t help loving.
Justin Rose could feel it before he headed back to the 18th tee with Garcia for their playoff. He could feel it building down the stretch. With every setback overcome, Garcia won admiration and respect.
“Obviously, people felt strongly that it was his time,” Rose said.
Garcia felt it, too.
“This week was just amazing,” Garcia told the gathering at the green jacket ceremony. “I felt like I was back in Spain.”
For too long, Garcia was the whiny brat American golf fans loved to provoke. Garcia created a lot of his own problems. He was easy to bait.
If you’ve followed Garcia since his emergence as the teen phenom who challenged Tiger Woods at the ’99 PGA Championship at Medinah, you know the history. You know about the time he spit into the cup on the 13th hole at Doral after making a bogey. You know about the meltdown when he kicked a sign and threw one of his shoes in a tantrum over a ruling in a European Tour event. And the time he caught himself as he started to flip his middle finger at fans taunting him over the number of times he was waggling his club at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
There were whiny complaints about the USGA favoring Tiger Woods in weather suspensions in that same U.S. Open, about how the golf gods were against him when he lost The Open at Carnoustie. And there have been his personal issues with Woods and Padraig Harrington ...
The thing is, Garcia’s transformation didn’t really happen over four hours Sunday. Rose and others who know him have seen the change for a long time now. They’ve seen Garcia become more accountable for his lot in life. They’ve seen the work he’s doing.
That’s why Rose liked seeing Augusta National patrons embrace Garcia.
“It’s good for Sergio,” Rose said. “Often, he feels like he's not supported the way he would like to be here in America, and it was encouraging to see the crowd get behind him. I think that they realized that he paid his dues, and they realized that he's been close so many times.”
Garcia gets heckled as much as any player in the game. Just a month ago, Honda Classic fans in the Bear Trap’s 17th hole heaped abuse on him.
“Hope your marriage fails,” one fan shouted.
Garcia, who is engaged to be married in July, didn’t like the crack, but he didn’t retaliate.
Two years ago, he was hounded by hecklers at The Players Championship, when he battled Rickie Fowler down the stretch. Garcia handled the verbal assault with total class. He was a model of restraint and grace under fire.
Yeah, Garcia has a history, but there’s a lot to admire in how far he has come, in what he’s overcoming in himself.
Garcia is engaged to an American, Angela Akins. He says she is part of the “good help” working on him.
“Good help is everybody around me that is making me not only a better golfer but a better person,” Garcia said. “It’s not easy, because I know how much of a hard‑headed man I can be sometimes, but it's been great.
“The most positive thing is that I feel like I have so much room for improvement. I'm excited. Obviously, I'm 37, I'm not 22 or 25 anymore, but I feel I still have a lot of great years in me. And I'm excited for those.”
It seems as if the more Garcia shows he is at peace with himself, the more we’re going to be at peace with him.
Garcia is a dynamic player, one of the great drivers of the ball in the game. And he seems to be beating the flaws in his putting stroke as forcefully as he’s beating the flaws in his fiery temperament.
So Garcia may be right. Now that he has won a major, now that American golf fans may actually root for him instead of against, we might not have seen his best yet. We might not have seen his last major championship triumph.
“I think he's going to have a happy summer,” Rose said. “I think we've always known that Sergio is an emotional kind of guy on and off the golf course, and when it's all clicking, he's one of the best in the world. I think that it is going to set up just a really, really happy and wonderful year for him.”
You Oughta Know: Key stats heading into RBC.
By Randall Mell
(Photo/Golf Channel Digital)
Sergio Garcia pulled off one of the great upsets of the modern era Sunday at the Masters.
Yes, few folks outside Garcia’s inner circle believed he could actually win a major championship, much less a green jacket, with such a formidable history of painful losses stacked against him, but the nature of this upset was even more stunning than that.
Over four hours at Augusta National, Garcia won the hearts and minds of American golf fans.
That’s your monumental upset.
That might have been more impossible for him to win than a major.
Garcia, 37, transformed before our very eyes Sunday, making the improbable journey from villain to hero with every step in his final-round odyssey.
The guy American golf fans loved to hate somehow turned himself into the guy American fans couldn’t help loving.
Justin Rose could feel it before he headed back to the 18th tee with Garcia for their playoff. He could feel it building down the stretch. With every setback overcome, Garcia won admiration and respect.
“Obviously, people felt strongly that it was his time,” Rose said.
Garcia felt it, too.
“This week was just amazing,” Garcia told the gathering at the green jacket ceremony. “I felt like I was back in Spain.”
For too long, Garcia was the whiny brat American golf fans loved to provoke. Garcia created a lot of his own problems. He was easy to bait.
If you’ve followed Garcia since his emergence as the teen phenom who challenged Tiger Woods at the ’99 PGA Championship at Medinah, you know the history. You know about the time he spit into the cup on the 13th hole at Doral after making a bogey. You know about the meltdown when he kicked a sign and threw one of his shoes in a tantrum over a ruling in a European Tour event. And the time he caught himself as he started to flip his middle finger at fans taunting him over the number of times he was waggling his club at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
There were whiny complaints about the USGA favoring Tiger Woods in weather suspensions in that same U.S. Open, about how the golf gods were against him when he lost The Open at Carnoustie. And there have been his personal issues with Woods and Padraig Harrington ...
The thing is, Garcia’s transformation didn’t really happen over four hours Sunday. Rose and others who know him have seen the change for a long time now. They’ve seen Garcia become more accountable for his lot in life. They’ve seen the work he’s doing.
That’s why Rose liked seeing Augusta National patrons embrace Garcia.
“It’s good for Sergio,” Rose said. “Often, he feels like he's not supported the way he would like to be here in America, and it was encouraging to see the crowd get behind him. I think that they realized that he paid his dues, and they realized that he's been close so many times.”
Garcia gets heckled as much as any player in the game. Just a month ago, Honda Classic fans in the Bear Trap’s 17th hole heaped abuse on him.
“Hope your marriage fails,” one fan shouted.
Garcia, who is engaged to be married in July, didn’t like the crack, but he didn’t retaliate.
Two years ago, he was hounded by hecklers at The Players Championship, when he battled Rickie Fowler down the stretch. Garcia handled the verbal assault with total class. He was a model of restraint and grace under fire.
Yeah, Garcia has a history, but there’s a lot to admire in how far he has come, in what he’s overcoming in himself.
Garcia is engaged to an American, Angela Akins. He says she is part of the “good help” working on him.
“Good help is everybody around me that is making me not only a better golfer but a better person,” Garcia said. “It’s not easy, because I know how much of a hard‑headed man I can be sometimes, but it's been great.
“The most positive thing is that I feel like I have so much room for improvement. I'm excited. Obviously, I'm 37, I'm not 22 or 25 anymore, but I feel I still have a lot of great years in me. And I'm excited for those.”
It seems as if the more Garcia shows he is at peace with himself, the more we’re going to be at peace with him.
Garcia is a dynamic player, one of the great drivers of the ball in the game. And he seems to be beating the flaws in his putting stroke as forcefully as he’s beating the flaws in his fiery temperament.
So Garcia may be right. Now that he has won a major, now that American golf fans may actually root for him instead of against, we might not have seen his best yet. We might not have seen his last major championship triumph.
“I think he's going to have a happy summer,” Rose said. “I think we've always known that Sergio is an emotional kind of guy on and off the golf course, and when it's all clicking, he's one of the best in the world. I think that it is going to set up just a really, really happy and wonderful year for him.”
You Oughta Know: Key stats heading into RBC.
By Golf Channel Digital
After a dramatic week in Augusta, the PGA Tour heads north to Harbour Town. Here is what You Oughta Know heading into the RBC Heritage.
• Defending champion is Branden Grace; last to repeat was Boo Weekley (2007-08)
• Grace was 21 under in this event over last two years (best of anyone in that span)
• Luke Donald has the best scoring average at RBC Heritage last 10 years (minimum of 10 rounds)
• Jim Furyk has nine career rounds of 66 or better here (most of anyone last 30 years)
• Harbour Town is the second-toughest GIR to hit on PGA Tour last season (54.9 percent)
• Harbour Town was also the toughest in proximity to the hole from 100-125 yards last season
• Matt Kuchar finished T-4 at the Masters; second-best finish of major championship career
• Brandt Snedeker's only top-10 finish in this event was a win in 2011
• Tyrrell Hatton is the highest-ranked player in the field; on May 1st of last year, Hatton was ranked 114th. This week, he’s 16th.
Power rankings: RBC Heritage.
By Ryan Ballengee
Matt Kuchar leads the field at the RBC Heritage. (Photo/Getty)
The regular PGA Tour schedule resumes this week, with Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, hosting the RBC Heritage. This week will be one of triumph for the community and the Sea Island Resort, which experienced devastation from a hurricane last year.
The top-ranked player in the field is Tyrrell Hatton with no players inside the top 15 in the field. However, this event usually has an exciting finish on this Pete Dye-Jack Nicklaus design that is often tight and requires superior ball-striking to score.
Here are our top five players for this week:
1. Matt Kuchar – Kuch finished T-4 at the Masters, including a hole-in-one on No. 16. It’s a great finish for Kuch, who has a knack for Augusta National and Harbour Town, where he’s won. Seems a no-brainer.
2. Charley Hoffman – The Hoff couldn’t hang on at Augusta National after an opening 65. This is a good place to feel better. He has been in the top 14 in three of the last five years.
3. Marc Leishman – Leishman won the API, did well at the Match Play and made the cut at the Masters. In this weak field, that’s strong. T-9 at Harbour Town in 2013.
4. Adam Hadwin – Hadwin’s married, probably a little worn out, but made the Masters cut and finished pretty well. A winner at Innisbrook, Mr. 59 No. 2 of 2017 hasn’t missed a cut this year.
5. Brandt Snedeker – Sneds isn’t running as well as maybe he has in the past, but he’s played solid golf throughout 2017. A winner here in 2011.
NASCAR: Power Rankings: Is Kyle Larson back at No. 1?
NASCAR: Power Rankings: Is Kyle Larson back at No. 1?
(Photo/nbcsports.com/yahoosports.com)
1. Brad Keselowski (LW: 1): Keselowski gets the edge over Kyle Larson for the top spot heading into the first off-weekend of the season because of his wins and top-10 finishes. Both drivers have five top fives but Keselowski has one more win and one more top-10 finish.
Keselowski finished sixth at Texas and had one of the fastest cars all weekend. But somewhat surprisingly he only led four laps and that was because of the way pit stops cycled through under green.
“We just kind of seemed stuck in that fifth or sixth place range for most of the race,” Keselowski said. “We were fighting a few things and got a little better there at the end and maybe had a little bit more in the tank there if there was a little bit of time left but we just ran out of laps.”
2. Kyle Larson (LW: 2): Larson finished second yet again. He took advantage of Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano’s inability to chase down Jimmie Johnson over the final laps of the race and snuck by both of them. Could Larson have challenged Johnson if he was able to pass Logano for second sooner?
“I needed to get by Joey with probably five laps to go or so,” Larson said. “I learned some stuff there in [turns] 3 and 4 that helped my car. I felt like I learned some things through 1 and 2 to stay low on exit and get position on him. Bummer that we didn’t get by Joey sooner, but we had to drive hard that last run to get to second.”
3. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 12): Are we to the point in Jimmie Johnson’s career where the seven-time champion is going to come through in situations where doubt is starting to creep into the minds of others?
Johnson entered the Chase in 2016 as an underdog and promptly won his way to the title. He began this season slow by his lofty standards and ended up winning at a basically new track where he had won six of the previous nine races. And not only does Johnson now have a win to get himself into the playoffs this year, he has a win at a track that will be in the third round of the playoffs.
Oh, and much like his championship-winning win at Homestead in 2016, Johnson started Sunday’s race at the back of the pack.
“I feel like at times when I start up front or we’ve had a dominant weekend, you’re kind of expected to perform, and you can try too hard easily in this sport,” Johnson said. “I don’t know, I feel like there might be ‑‑ I don’t know exactly, but maybe there is something, and kind of just being knocked down a notch, like okay, this is going to be a workingman’s day, we’re going to have to fight through a lot, stay calm, identify with 100 percent, because again, it’s very easy to step over that line and bust your butt, from a pit call being too aggressive, too aggressive on pit lane in the car, passing other cars like we did today. I had to be so patient, and in the end, the patience kind of paid off for me.”
4. Chase Elliott (LW: 3): Johnson said after the race that he figured someone like Elliott or Ryan Blaney would win on Sunday. Elliott might have had a better shot had he not wrecked his primary car in practice on Friday. But he got a chance to tune the backup on Saturday and finished ninth. While Elliott hasn’t had the gaudy stat-line that Larson has earned this season, he’s just 17 points behind Larson in the standings.
5. Joey Logano (LW: 4): Logano’s decision to stay out as late as possible on the next-to-last green flag run of the race almost paid off with a win. The move, which was questioned by the Fox booth as it happened, allowed Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon the opportunity to stay out on track when a caution for debris flew with 34 laps to go.
Fresh tires ultimately paid off as Johnson got past Logano for the lead, but it’s fair to wonder if Logano finishes lower than third without the pit strategy.
“That is Todd’s top-three there,” Logano said. “He did a good job giving us a shot to win. I tried to hold off the 48, he was just faster. There is nothing to say besides that. I was in the clean and had the clean air and he was still faster behind me … I needed a 15 lap run instead of a 30 lap run, or a couple cautions in three and we would be standing in victory lane with a 12th place car and that would have been something.”
6. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 5): Truex led 49 laps and finished eighth. He had a top-10 car for most of the race and was second in the first stage.
“The track was really, really difficult and the tires were definitely a challenge,” Truex said. “It seemed like every time we put a set on, the car was a little different. We weren’t good on restarts and short runs and we’d lose all our track position that took us so long to get. Overall, it was a decent day, but needed to be better on short runs for sure.”
7. Kevin Harvick (LW: 9): Harvick finished fourth and praised the work Texas did to get a second groove to come in during the race.
“I think the racing was better than it could have been,” Harvick said. “The track did a great job getting the race track ready. It could have been like it was all day Friday and were able to get that second groove coming in. I think we overachieved today. The only chance we had today was to have clean air. Our car was very sensitive to the track and two tires.”
8. Clint Bowyer (LW: 8): Bowyer was 11th and has six finishes inside the top 13 in seven races. He finished inside the top 13 just four times throughout the entire 2016 season and just 10 finishes inside the top 20. What a difference a season and a team change continues to make.
9. Kyle Busch (LW: 7): Busch finished 15th on Sunday after starting at the back because his car didn’t make it through inspection to qualify. Busch’s team repaired his car after he slid and the right rear of his car tapped the wall. But those repairs meant the car didn’t get inspected in time for qualifying.
10. Ryan Blaney (LW: 11): We’re excited to see if Blaney and the No. 21 team encounter a scenario like they did at Texas on Sunday. As we mentioned in Takeaways after the race, Blaney and the team played for the stage 2 win instead of pitting during a caution flag just before the end of the stage. While Blaney won the stage and got the bonus point for the playoffs, he started the third stage outside the top 10 and never sniffed the front again. While he won the first two stages of the race he ended up finishing 12th.
11. Jamie McMurray (LW: NR): After a bad call to stay out with a tire that was about to go flat at Martinsville, McMurray finished sixth at Texas.
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: NR): Junior finished fifth and we should appease Junior Nation by having him in Power Rankings, right?
Lucky Dog: Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 13th and 14th. That’s pretty good for Bayne considering he wrecked his primary car in practice on Saturday.
The DNF: Austin Dillon’s race was over before it began.
Dropped Out: Dillon, Ryan Newman
Monster Energy All-Star Race format to go back to ‘One Hot Night’ roots.
By Jerry Bonkowski
This year’s Monster Energy All-Star race format on May 20 will go back in time.
NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway announced Tuesday that the 25th anniversary of the first All-Star Race held at night will be run with the same format as the first race that was held in 1992.
The “Silver Anniversary Gold Rush” of the iconic “One Hot Night” will once again have a $1 million prize to the winning team.
Here’s how this year’s format shapes up:
NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway announced Tuesday that the 25th anniversary of the first All-Star Race held at night will be run with the same format as the first race that was held in 1992.
The “Silver Anniversary Gold Rush” of the iconic “One Hot Night” will once again have a $1 million prize to the winning team.
Here’s how this year’s format shapes up:
- The race will feature four stages (20 laps / 20 laps / 20 laps / 10 laps), totaling 70 laps, an ode to the 1992 edition of the same distance.
- The final 10-lap stage will feature just 10 cars/drivers who earned their way into the main event, particularly with how they finished collectively in the prior three 20-lap stages that evening.
- All three stage winners will be locked into the 10-lap finale for the big prize, but with a caveat – they all must be on the lead lap at the end of the third stage.
- The cars with the best average finish in the first three stages will make up the remaining spots needed to fill the 10-car final stage.
- The 10 cars in the fourth and final stage will be lined up by average finish of the first three stages and given the option to pit. Exit off pit road determines starting order for final stage.
“This new 70-lap format pays tribute to the 25th anniversary of ‘One Hot Night’ while pushing the drivers to the brink of insanity with the chances they’ll take to win $1 million,” Charlotte Motor Speedway president and general manager Marcus Smith said in a media release. “I’m as ready as our fans for a May 20 Saturday night shootout where only a daredevil behind the wheel truly has a shot at Victory Lane.”
There’s also one added bonus of sorts: each team will receive one set of “softer tires,” to be used at their discretion. Softer tires provide cars more grip and speed, but there’s one caveat: if a team holds off using its set of softer tires until the final stage, then its car will start the 10-car/10-lap finale at the back of the field.
According to Goodyear, “the Option set-up is projected to be three- to five-tenths of a second faster per lap, out of the box.” Also, instead of Goodyear’s traditional yellow letters – which will remain on the Prime tires to be used in both the All-Star events and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 27 – the Option tires will feature bold, green lettering.
There’s also one added bonus of sorts: each team will receive one set of “softer tires,” to be used at their discretion. Softer tires provide cars more grip and speed, but there’s one caveat: if a team holds off using its set of softer tires until the final stage, then its car will start the 10-car/10-lap finale at the back of the field.
According to Goodyear, “the Option set-up is projected to be three- to five-tenths of a second faster per lap, out of the box.” Also, instead of Goodyear’s traditional yellow letters – which will remain on the Prime tires to be used in both the All-Star events and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 27 – the Option tires will feature bold, green lettering.
Several drivers have already clinched a starting spot in the All-Star Race based upon:
“The Monster Energy All-Star Race is designed to be fun for fans, showcasing the best drivers and race teams in NASCAR,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “With the effort that Goodyear has put into this race with multiple tire compounds, I am excited to see how the stages play out, especially the final 10-car, 10-lap sprint to the checkered flag.”
Qualifying takes place on Friday, May 19, including the “no speed limit” four-tire pit stop.
According to the media release, “Each team will have three timed laps, one of which will include a mandatory four-tire pit stop with no pit-road speed limits enforced. The five quickest teams will advance to the final round of qualifying to determine starting positions one through five. The team that completes the fastest stop will earn the Pit Crew Competition Award.”
There will be two other ways for drivers to advance to the All-Star Race:
1.) The traditional Monster Energy Open will be held prior to the All-Star Race earlier in the evening of May 20. The Open will feature three stages of 20, 20 and 10 laps. The winner of each stage will advance to the All-Star Race, Qualifying for the Open will take place on Friday, May 19, where the field will be set by two rounds of traditional knock-out qualifying.
2.) By winning the popular Fan Vote.
Lastly, both the Monster Energy Open and Monster Energy All-Star Race will be televised on Fox Sports 1 starting at 6 p.m. ET on May 20. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will carry the radio broadcasts of both events, as well.
Here’s a list of all winners of the All-Star Race, dating back to its inception in 1985:
1985 Darrell Waltrip
1986 Bill Elliott
1987 Dale Earnhardt
1988 Terry Labonte
1989 Rusty Wallace
1990 Dale Earnhardt
1991 Davey Allison
1992 Davey Allison (first night race)
1993 Dale Earnhardt
1994 Geoffrey Bodine
1995 Jeff Gordon
1996 Michael Waltrip
1997 Jeff Gordon
1998 Mark Martin
1999 Terry Labonte
2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2001 Jeff Gordon
2002 Ryan Newman
2003 Jimmie Johnson
2004 Matt Kenseth
2005 Mark Martin
2006 Jimmie Johnson
2007 Kevin Harvick
2008 Kasey Kahne
2009 Tony Stewart
2010 Kurt Busch
2011 Carl Edwards
2012 Jimmie Johnson
2013 Jimmie Johnson
2014 Jamie McMurray
2015 Denny Hamlin
2016 Joey Logano
- * Drivers who won a points event in either 2016 or 2017.
- * Drivers who have won a previous Monster Energy All-Star Race and are competing full-time in 2017
- * Drivers who have won a past Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship and are competing fulltime in 2017.
“The Monster Energy All-Star Race is designed to be fun for fans, showcasing the best drivers and race teams in NASCAR,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “With the effort that Goodyear has put into this race with multiple tire compounds, I am excited to see how the stages play out, especially the final 10-car, 10-lap sprint to the checkered flag.”
Qualifying takes place on Friday, May 19, including the “no speed limit” four-tire pit stop.
According to the media release, “Each team will have three timed laps, one of which will include a mandatory four-tire pit stop with no pit-road speed limits enforced. The five quickest teams will advance to the final round of qualifying to determine starting positions one through five. The team that completes the fastest stop will earn the Pit Crew Competition Award.”
There will be two other ways for drivers to advance to the All-Star Race:
1.) The traditional Monster Energy Open will be held prior to the All-Star Race earlier in the evening of May 20. The Open will feature three stages of 20, 20 and 10 laps. The winner of each stage will advance to the All-Star Race, Qualifying for the Open will take place on Friday, May 19, where the field will be set by two rounds of traditional knock-out qualifying.
2.) By winning the popular Fan Vote.
Lastly, both the Monster Energy Open and Monster Energy All-Star Race will be televised on Fox Sports 1 starting at 6 p.m. ET on May 20. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will carry the radio broadcasts of both events, as well.
Here’s a list of all winners of the All-Star Race, dating back to its inception in 1985:
1985 Darrell Waltrip
1986 Bill Elliott
1987 Dale Earnhardt
1988 Terry Labonte
1989 Rusty Wallace
1990 Dale Earnhardt
1991 Davey Allison
1992 Davey Allison (first night race)
1993 Dale Earnhardt
1994 Geoffrey Bodine
1995 Jeff Gordon
1996 Michael Waltrip
1997 Jeff Gordon
1998 Mark Martin
1999 Terry Labonte
2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2001 Jeff Gordon
2002 Ryan Newman
2003 Jimmie Johnson
2004 Matt Kenseth
2005 Mark Martin
2006 Jimmie Johnson
2007 Kevin Harvick
2008 Kasey Kahne
2009 Tony Stewart
2010 Kurt Busch
2011 Carl Edwards
2012 Jimmie Johnson
2013 Jimmie Johnson
2014 Jamie McMurray
2015 Denny Hamlin
2016 Joey Logano
More Cup teams playoff eligible after seven races than in first three years of format.
By Daniel McFadin
After seven races in the NASCAR season, the sport’s premier series is experiencing its highest level of parity this early since the introduction of the current playoff format in 2014.
Drivers and teams become eligible for the one of the 16 spots in playoffs with a race win. Any spot not filled by a race winner is filled by points.
Jimmie Johnson‘s win Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway put the number of teams and drivers eligible for the playoffs via wins at six each ahead of the Easter break this weekend.
For teams, that’s the most organizations that have become eligible since the format was introduced. Four teams were eligible in each of the first three years.
Six drivers is the second most since the seven that qualified in 2014.
Teams and drivers that are eligible for the playoffs through seven races: Stewart-Haas Racing (Kurt Busch), Team Penske (Brad Keselowski), Furniture Row Racing (Martin Truex Jr.), Richard Childress Racing (Ryan Newman), Chip Ganassi Racing (Kyle Larson) and Hendrick Motorsports (Jimmie Johnson).
The parity is helped by Richard Childress Racing, Furniture Row Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing winning races this early for the first time under the win-and-in format.
Joe Gibbs Racing was shut out of Victory Lane before the off-week for the first time under the format. JGR qualified two drivers in 2014 and 2016 and one driver in 2015.
Hendrick, Penske and Stewart-Haas have had at least one playoff-eligible driver through sevens race in each season.
Hendrick has never had more than one driver eligible through seven races.
Here’s which teams and drivers were eligible at this point in the first three years of the current playoff format and how many teams were eligible at the end of the regular season.
2014; four teams/seven drivers: Hendrick Motorsports (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), Stewart-Haas Racing (Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch), Team Penske (Kesleowski, Joey Logano), Joe Gibbs Racing (Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch).
End of regular season: Eight teams/16 drivers
2015; four teams/five drivers: Team Penske (Logano, Keselowski), Hendrick Motorsports (Johnson), Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick), Joe Gibbs Racing (Denny Hamlin).
End of regular season: Eight teams/16 drivers
2016; four teams/five drivers: Joe Gibbs Racing (Hamlin, Kyle Busch), Hendrick Motorsports (Johnson), Team Penske (Keselowski), Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick).
End of season: Eight teams/16 drivers
SOCCER: USA, Mexico and Canada announce joint bid to host 2026 World Cup.
By Daniel McFadin
(Photo/Getty Images)
After seven races in the NASCAR season, the sport’s premier series is experiencing its highest level of parity this early since the introduction of the current playoff format in 2014.
Drivers and teams become eligible for the one of the 16 spots in playoffs with a race win. Any spot not filled by a race winner is filled by points.
Jimmie Johnson‘s win Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway put the number of teams and drivers eligible for the playoffs via wins at six each ahead of the Easter break this weekend.
For teams, that’s the most organizations that have become eligible since the format was introduced. Four teams were eligible in each of the first three years.
Six drivers is the second most since the seven that qualified in 2014.
Teams and drivers that are eligible for the playoffs through seven races: Stewart-Haas Racing (Kurt Busch), Team Penske (Brad Keselowski), Furniture Row Racing (Martin Truex Jr.), Richard Childress Racing (Ryan Newman), Chip Ganassi Racing (Kyle Larson) and Hendrick Motorsports (Jimmie Johnson).
The parity is helped by Richard Childress Racing, Furniture Row Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing winning races this early for the first time under the win-and-in format.
Joe Gibbs Racing was shut out of Victory Lane before the off-week for the first time under the format. JGR qualified two drivers in 2014 and 2016 and one driver in 2015.
Hendrick, Penske and Stewart-Haas have had at least one playoff-eligible driver through sevens race in each season.
Hendrick has never had more than one driver eligible through seven races.
Here’s which teams and drivers were eligible at this point in the first three years of the current playoff format and how many teams were eligible at the end of the regular season.
2014; four teams/seven drivers: Hendrick Motorsports (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), Stewart-Haas Racing (Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch), Team Penske (Kesleowski, Joey Logano), Joe Gibbs Racing (Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch).
End of regular season: Eight teams/16 drivers
2015; four teams/five drivers: Team Penske (Logano, Keselowski), Hendrick Motorsports (Johnson), Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick), Joe Gibbs Racing (Denny Hamlin).
End of regular season: Eight teams/16 drivers
2016; four teams/five drivers: Joe Gibbs Racing (Hamlin, Kyle Busch), Hendrick Motorsports (Johnson), Team Penske (Keselowski), Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick).
End of season: Eight teams/16 drivers
SOCCER: USA, Mexico and Canada announce joint bid to host 2026 World Cup.
(Photo/AP)
The World Cup could be coming back to the United States in 2026.
In an unprecedented three-country bid to host a World Cup, the U.S., Mexico and Canada are teaming up to try to host FIFA's marquee event. The three CONCACAF nations announced the bid Monday at One World Trade Center in New York City.
Only once has a World Cup been hosted by more than one country. That was in 2002 and Japan and South Korea co-hosted the tournament.
Three countries have never co-hosted a tournament. The tournament is set to expand from 32 countries to 48 for the 2026 edition. The final format for a 48-team World Cup is still being finalized, but that would require more matches to be played. The 32-team version currently involves 64 matches.
Sunil Gulati, president of U.S. Soccer, said the bid they are proposing to FIFA will be for an 80-team tournament with 60 games in the US and 10 each in Canada and Mexico. When asked which country would host the opening game and the final, Gulati said the U.S. would host all matches in the quarterfinals and beyond, but the opening game remains undecided.
"We could host the tournament I think on our own," Gulati said. "We think (the joint bid) makes our bid stronger. There's a pragmatic part of it."
Further details like the host cities and venues and how many venues would host games remains undecided.
The 2018 World Cup will be in Russia and 2022 is set for Qatar. That means both Europe and Asia will be out of the running for bidding in 2026 because the two most recent host continents are not eligible to bid. By bidding together, the U.S. and Mexico don't have to go against each other. The host for the 2026 World Cup won't be announced until 2020, but the North American bid is considered the favorite at this time.
While the U.S. and Mexico have made every World Cup since 1994, Canada hasn't qualified since 1986. The U.S. last hosted the World Cup in 1994 and Chicago's Soldier Field hosted five matches then. Mexico hosted in 1970 and 1986.
Which cities to host 2026 World Cup in USA, Mexico, Canada?
By Joe Prince-Wright
(Photo/Getty Images)
With the U.S., Mexico and Canada to announce a joint bid to host the 2026 World Cup on Monday at 2 p.m. ET, many people have many questions.
The fact that all three of the countries involved could conceivably host the tournament on their own (especially the U.S.) has many questioning why a trio of hosts is needed, yet the prospect of a tournament being hosted across an entire continent is an exciting idea and something UEFA is indeed doing for EURO 2020.
So, let’s take a look at how a 48-team World Cup could be hosted across the U.S., Mexico and Canada with a minimum of 16 host stadiums needed if you take into account that there are currently 12 host stadiums for 32-team World Cups to date.
UPDATE: With the announcement that the U.S. will host 60 of the 80 games in the tournament, I’m thinking 10 host cities in the U.S. and three each in Mexico and Canada. No doubt that number may changes in the months and years ahead, but for now it seems like just three venues in each of Mexico and Canada will be enough.
The most intriguing nature of this idea, for me at least, is the fact that cities close together on the US-Canadian border and the US-Mexican border can be linked together and group games can be played in two countries, giving a real international and unique vibe to proceedings.
Here’s a breakdown at the best options in each country to host World Cup games, with a few notable mentions as the U.S. has so many great cities and venues to choose from.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
USA
New York City – MetLife Stadium is the obvious choice here with NYC also an outsider to host any potential World Cup final.
Chicago – Solider Field hosted World Cup games in 1994 and should be the venue once again for America’s third city.
LA – Plenty of options here with new stadiums being built. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena has a rich soccer history, but the new NFL stadium for the Rams could be an option.
Houston – Mexico and the U.S. have always got huge crowds for international games in Houston and NRG Stadium would be the perfect venue, especially as it’s just a four-hour drive from the Mexican border.
Seattle – One of the strongest soccer fan-bases in the U.S. is certainly deserving of World Cup matches at CenturyLink Field. Not the biggest city in the U.S. but with its proximity to Portland and the Canadian border with Vancouver the Pacific Northwest could become a hub for group games.
Orlando – This would complete a very even spread of stadiums and would give soccer fans in the Southeast a chance to watch the games. Hosting them at Camping World Stadium would be easy.
Atlanta – The new Mercedes Benz stadium was built for tournaments like this. Atlanta is a growing soccer city with a new MLS franchise and given its status as a huge transport hub, ATL seems nailed on to be a host city.
Washington D.C. – Having the U.S. capital on board will be key for many reasons and having FedEx Field available it’s a no-brainer.
San Francisco – The home of 49ers in Santa Clara has hosted plenty of big games in the Copa America Centeratio and the International Champions Cup and the Bay Area would be a brilliant host region for World Cup games.
Boston – Gillette Stadium (then known a Foxboro Stadium) hosted World Cup games in 1994 and with New England being a passionate soccer region this makes total sense.
Other notables: Philadelphia, Denver, San Diego, Michigan (The Big House), Miami, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Dallas
Mexico
Mexico City – Azteca Stadium would undoubtedly be a worthy venue to host the World Cup final given that it’s done so twice in the past.
Guadalajara – Estadio Chivas the obvious choice here and a city rich in soccer heritage would be a gem in Mexico’s bid. Surely nailed on.
Tijuana – Its close proximity to the U.S. border and San Diego would again give teams the chance to get a flavor of both the U.S. and Mexico perhaps during the same group.
Maybes…
Puebla – Puebla’s Estadio Cuauhtemoc home would be a fine World Cup venue and with it being close to Mexico City, Puebla is easily accessible.
Leon – Estadio Leon would need an upgrade but Leon’s proximity to Mexico City means that it would once again be easy to travel to and from Mexico’s capital.
Monterrey – The sparkling Estadio BBVA Bancomer should be in line to be one of the host venues, plus Monterrey being a quick flight away from Texas could mean group games played in the U.S. and Mexico.
Other notables: Mexico City (Estadio Olimpico Universitario) Guadalajara (Jalisco Stadium), Toluca, Pachuca, Queretaro
Canada
Toronto – Capable of hosting huge sporting events, Canada’s largest city would almost certainly be a host of group games and knockout matches. BMO Field to be expanded?
Vancouver – After doing a wonderful job in hosting the 2015 Women’s World Cup final, BC Place is the front-runner and Vancouver makes tons of sense as it’s on the border with the U.S.
Montreal – A hub of culture and sport, Montreal makes plenty of sense and hosted the Olympic games and has a rich soccer culture.
Other notables: Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton
Borussia Dortmund team bus involved in “bomb explosion”.
By Joe Prince-Wright
(Photo/Getty Images)
Borussia Dortmund have announced that their team bus has been involved in a “bomb explosion” near the team hotel ahead of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg against AS Monaco in Dortmund on Tuesday.
The game was then postponed.
One person was injured — Dortmund defender Marc Bartra, who required surgery in hospital and is said to have minor injuries — while the players have been placed in security and fans in the stadium were initially told to remain in place.
Dortmund released several updates on Twitter about the attack and after being in close contact with UEFA the game was moved to Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET.
“Bomb explosion on the team bus at the team hotel. Player in security. No danger in and at the stadium. More information to follow,” Dortmund said in its first notice about the attack.
Initial photos showed damage to the team bus with broken windows evident as reports stated three explosions took place.
It has since been reported by German media that a note was found near the scene and German police stated they “assume serious explosives” were used in the attack.
It has since been reported by German media that a note was found near the scene and German police stated they “assume serious explosives” were used in the attack.
Follow-Op: Dortmund in shock after Bartra hurt by explosion - Watzke.
Omnisport
Chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke says Borussia Dortmund players are in shock after the team bus was hit in an explosion. (Photo/Omnisport)
Borussia Dortmund players are in shock after Marc Bartra was taken to hospital following an explosion that hit the team's bus, the club's chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said.
Bartra was the only person hurt in the incident, which happened as the coach left the team hotel ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final against Monaco.
The match was consequently postponed until Wednesday and Watzke called for Dortmund to pull together in the wake of the explosion.
"The team and the coaches are of course in shock," Watzke told Sky. "We must now channel it in some way.
"It will not be easy to get it out of our mind. In such a crisis situation, all of Borussia Dortmund will pull together. I think the team will feel it tomorrow."
Watzke explained what happened from the point of view of the Dortmund players, with the explosions occurring in the Hochsten area of the city.
"There was an explosive strike in the immediate vicinity of the hotel exit," he said.
"When the squad moved from the hotel parking lot to Wittbrauckerstrasse, three explosive devices were triggered there.
"Marc Bartra has been taken to the hospital. He hurt himself on the hand.
"We then contacted the security delegates and colleagues from Monaco. The game will be played tomorrow at 18:45CET. The tickets remain valid.
"Overall, I have to express a huge compliment to our fans, who have carried it very well, objectively, reasonably and solidly."
Dortmund president Reinhard Rauball backed the club's players to deliver a positive display against Monaco despite Tuesday's explosion.
"Of course this is an extremely difficult situation for the players," Rauball told Sky. "But they are professionals and I am convinced that they will put that away and will bring their performance tomorrow.
"It would be a bad thing for those who did that to succeed, because the team is influenced in some way."
NCAABKB: The 12 most intriguing (or confusing) hires of the college basketball coaching carousel.
NCAABKB: The 12 most intriguing (or confusing) hires of the college basketball coaching carousel.
By Pat Forde
Patrick Ewing at his introductory news conference. (Photo/AP)
Now that the college basketball coaching carousel has largely stopped spinning, it’s time to appraise what happened.
As is usually the case, basketball is simply a weirder landscape than football when it comes to hiring and firing. Coaches and athletic directors are more apt to do strange (or at least unpredictable) things. Which is how you end up with a Josh Pastner at Georgia Tech (off to a promising start) and a Kevin Stallings at Pittsburgh (blooming disaster).
Those two appraisals come with a year’s hindsight, of course. Twelve months from now we’ll know more about the moves that were made this spring. But for the moment, here are the 12 most intriguing 2017 hires in the sport:
Georgetown Hoyas
The hire: Patrick Ewing. The intrigue: School tries to get out of the 1980s but gets sucked back into its past after being turned down by several candidates.
That doesn’t mean the Ewing hire will fail, necessarily. It will be hugely dependent upon his completely untested ability to recruit and/or hire effective recruiters. Making inroads into the fertile “DMV” area and building relationships with the AAU kingpins will be Job No. 1 for Ewing and his staff. If he’s relying on Being Patrick Ewing, a name that will not sufficiently resonate with today’s teenagers, this isn’t likely to go well.
There are fewer concerns about Ewing’s coaching ability, after years as an NBA assistant. Player procurement will be the key.
Georgetown attempted to modernize its antiquated aura by firing John Thompson III, son of program patriarch John Thompson Jr. But the hiring follow-through wasn’t there – in part because Big John still casts a long shadow over the program, with an office in the practice facility that bears his name. Who wants to sign up for that?
Another member of the Thompson Extended Family, that’s who. Welcome back to the ‘80s, Georgetown. Good luck succeeding like it’s 1984 all over again.
Missouri Tigers
The hire: Cuonzo Martin. The intrigue: Can instant talent injection translate to long-term success?
Martin wasted little time landing what might be the most talented recruit in school history in Michael Porter Jr., the top-ranked prospect in the Class of 2017 according to Rivals.com. Martin followed that up with a commitment last week from three-star guard Blake Harris, furthering his raid on what had been Lorenzo Romar’s recruiting class at Washington.
For a program at an all-time low ebb, these are giddy times at Mizzou. But during what will almost assuredly be Porter’s one season on campus, how much impact will he have? Eventual No. 1 draft pick Ben Simmons took LSU nowhere near the NCAA tournament in 2015-16, and potential No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz did the same at Washington in 2016-17.
One player for one season isn’t a cure-all. Martin will have to sustain the recruiting successes – and then coach them up when they arrive. For a guy with two NCAA tournament appearances in nine years as a head coach, there is some proving to do.
Indiana Hoosiers
The hire: Archie Miller. The intrigue: He’s good. Is he national championship good?
The last guy, Tom Crean, won two Big Ten titles. That wasn’t enough to keep his job. And that’s because a program with five national titles wants to get back to hanging big banners in the near future – or at least to playing in Final Fours, something Indiana last did in 2002.
When Butler (twice), George Mason, VCU, South Carolina, LSU, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State have all been to the Final Four more recently than Indiana, something is wrong. Time for Miller – long considered a rising superstar, who patiently waited for a Cadillac job – to make it right.
To do so, Miller must win the in-state recruiting battles Crean did not. He starts with a big one: Class of 2018 No. 3 prospect Romeo Langford of New Albany, Indiana., who is being hotly pursued by Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisville and others in addition to the Hoosiers.
Washington Huskies
The hire: Mike Hopkins. The intrigue: Did Boeheim-addicted Syracuse run off a future coaching star, to the Huskies’ benefit?
The eternal coach-in-waiting alongside Jim Boeheim got tired of waiting, jumping for a Power Five job with loads of upside on the other side of the country. A native Californian, this is a chance for Hopkins to establish himself outside Boeheim’s eternal shadow at a program that should be accomplishing more than it has.
Hopkins’ brief stint in charge at Syracuse during Boeheim’s NCAA-mandated suspension in 2015-16 didn’t go very well – the Orange were 4-5 in that time – but he remains highly regarded within the industry. Time will tell whether this is a Washington coup and a short-sighted Syracuse failure, or the other way around.
Illinois Fighting Illini
The hire: Brad Underwood. The intrigue: Wait, what?
One day, Underwood was the first-year coach at Oklahoma State. The next day, without a single inkling of anything in the works, Underwood was posing for pictures in Champaign with athletic director Josh Whitman. Less than a year earlier, Underwood had Stephen F. Austin within two minutes of the Sweet 16 before a late collapse against Notre Dame.
So was a peripatetic 12 months for Underwood, who was low-balled by Oklahoma State in salary and took his first opportunity to bolt. He’s been a consistent success but must now find his footing in a new conference and cultivate the persistently tenuous Illinois recruiting ties to Chicago.
North Carolina State Wolfpack
The hire: Kevin Keatts. The intrigue: What constitutes success at N.C. State, and can Keatts deliver it?
After watching a Tobacco Road rival hang another banner – four for North Carolina and five for Duke since the Wolfpack last won it all – the fan base can either choose to remain living in 1983 or move on with a vision of realistic success. Clearly, the program can and should be better than it has been for the past decade-plus. But dethroning Duke and Carolina – not to mention Virginia, Syracuse, Louisville and Notre Dame – is much easier to talk about than actually doing.
The 44-year-old Keatts can win on the recruiting trail and the court (he’s 72-28 as a head coach) and will give N.C. State the opportunity to shed its underachiever label. But if you’re expecting national titles, that might be asking too much.
LSU Tigers
The hire: Will Wade. The intrigue: Are the Tigers actually getting their act together?
Since a 2006 Final Four appearance, LSU is 31 games below .500 in Southeastern Conference play. For most of that time SEC basketball has been pretty bad, which means the Tigers have been really bad.
But this hire could be good. Wade is 91-45 as a head coach, 55-15 in league play, and at age 34 is considered one of the brightest young minds in the game. The challenge will be navigating what can be a swampy recruiting culture in the state, and choosing relationships wisely.
New Mexico Lobos
The hire: Paul Weir. The intrigue: Does this raid of a rival pay off?
After a national search that seemed unfocused, the Lobos returned home and swiped the first-year head coach of New Mexico State. The 37-year-old Weir, a nine-year assistant at NMSU, was an instant hit as a head coach, going 28-6 and earning an NCAA tournament bid. Grabbing Weir may not guarantee a return to prominence for New Mexico, but it does guarantee that the rivalry with the Aggies is hotter than ever and Weir will be the least popular man in Las Cruces in a long time.
California Bears
The hire: Wyking Jones. The intrigue: Is this completely crazy?
The 44-year-old Jones has more experience as an actor – he’s had small roles in several films – than as a head coach, and his hiring came as a shock to many in the business. Jones is known far more as a recruiter than as a tactician, and will have much to prove in terms of preparation and bench coaching. Put it this way: the rest of the Pac-12 is not suddenly looking at Berkeley with heightened concern.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
The hire: Mike Boynton. The intrigue: Will hiring cheap work?
Once again, Oklahoma State has the lowest-paid coach in the Big 12. That helped run off Underwood to Illinois; we’ll see what it does for Boynton, who has zero experience as a head coach and hasn’t even been considered a lead assistant for much of his 10 years in the business. From that standpoint, his salary makes sense – but does the hire in the first place? Athletic director Mike Holder – and by extension billionaire benefactor T. Boone Pickens – seem to be making their financial priorities clear.
Dayton Flyers
The hire: Anthony Grant. The intrigue: A second chance for an African-American coach.
A frequent lament of black coaches is the difficulty in getting another quality head-coaching job after being fired. Grant, who coached at Alabama from 2009-15, gets that opportunity at Dayton – a program commensurate with the level where he enjoyed great success at VCU from 2006-09. He takes over one of the top programs in the Atlantic-10, and at age 50 can author a successful second act.
UNC-Wilmington
The hire: C.B. McGrath. The intrigue: Does the Roy Williams coaching tree still bear fruit?
It had been five years since a Williams assistant left his side for a Division I head-coaching job (Jerod Haase to UAB, 2012). The 41-year-old McGrath, who dates back to Williams’ Kansas days, gets his chance at a program Keatts resuscitated. It’s a good job in a winnable league (Colonial Athletic Association), and if McGrath has success it may revive interest in hiring Williams assistants.
NCAAFB: 'Our time' - Auburn concludes upbeat spring practice.
(Photo/AuburnTigers.com)
Auburn wrapped up spring practice Tuesday – going short in shorts - with the Tigers feeling optimistic about the season.
“I think the sky is the limit with us,” said Deshaun Davis, a junior linebacker. “I feel like we hold our own key to destiny. We came up with the phrase, ‘Our time,’ for our team motto, and I really feel like it is our time.
“We feel like our offense is way much better. On the defensive side of the ball, we feel like we can get better than we were last year. We hold the keys to destiny. If we fail, it’s all on us.”
The Tigers return the SEC’s leading running back tandem in juniors Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson, who combined for 2,119 rushing yards in 2016.
“I have a great vibe about this team,” said Pettway, who averaged an SEC-best 122.4 yards per game. “The offense looks good. The defense is good. I feel really good about this season coming up.”
Special teams provides another phase in which Auburn ranks highly, with two-time Lou Groza Award finalist Daniel Carlson returning.
“I think we’re looking good,” said Carlson, who kicked five A-Day field goals, including a 55-yarder. “This has been a solid spring. Everybody’s come together. I think the team is really getting along well. Mostly everybody’s healthy, too. I’m excited about what we’re going to do this season.
In 2016, Auburn ranked No. 7 nationally in scoring defense, allowing 17.1 points per game.
“We’ll definitely compete, senior defensive back Tray Matthews said. “We’ll be in the top because of the effort that we give. Everyone’s hungry on offense and defense. And the defense – we still feel like we have something to prove. We want to continue to build that legacy here at Auburn and get it back to where it was.”
Sophomore quarterback Jarrett Stidham was the offensive MVP on A-Day, completing 16-of-20 passes for 267 yards while adding a rushing touchdown.
“He’s solid. He has a great arm. He’s very smart,” Matthews said. “He’s always up there talking to the coaches, Coach Lindsey. I’m just impressed with him. He kind of reminds me of Baker Mayfield in some ways with his passing game.”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn says the competition for the starting quarterback position will continue into preseason camp, when junior Sean White will be fully recovered from an arm injury.
“I think Jarrett and Sean are two very similar players,” said Johnson, who ran for 895 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. “Both of them like to be the leader. Both of them like to command the offense. Both of them have supreme confidence in themselves. So they’re never going to go out there and not believe they’re going to be successful.
“To me, that’s what you look for in a quarterback, the command, the poise. I think both of them are very similar. Jarrett got to show what he can do today. I think he did very well. Now, they’ve still got to battle it out. It’s just one spring. We’ve got a long way to go.”
“I think the sky is the limit with us,” said Deshaun Davis, a junior linebacker. “I feel like we hold our own key to destiny. We came up with the phrase, ‘Our time,’ for our team motto, and I really feel like it is our time.
“We feel like our offense is way much better. On the defensive side of the ball, we feel like we can get better than we were last year. We hold the keys to destiny. If we fail, it’s all on us.”
The Tigers return the SEC’s leading running back tandem in juniors Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson, who combined for 2,119 rushing yards in 2016.
“I have a great vibe about this team,” said Pettway, who averaged an SEC-best 122.4 yards per game. “The offense looks good. The defense is good. I feel really good about this season coming up.”
Special teams provides another phase in which Auburn ranks highly, with two-time Lou Groza Award finalist Daniel Carlson returning.
“I think we’re looking good,” said Carlson, who kicked five A-Day field goals, including a 55-yarder. “This has been a solid spring. Everybody’s come together. I think the team is really getting along well. Mostly everybody’s healthy, too. I’m excited about what we’re going to do this season.
In 2016, Auburn ranked No. 7 nationally in scoring defense, allowing 17.1 points per game.
“We’ll definitely compete, senior defensive back Tray Matthews said. “We’ll be in the top because of the effort that we give. Everyone’s hungry on offense and defense. And the defense – we still feel like we have something to prove. We want to continue to build that legacy here at Auburn and get it back to where it was.”
Sophomore quarterback Jarrett Stidham was the offensive MVP on A-Day, completing 16-of-20 passes for 267 yards while adding a rushing touchdown.
“He’s solid. He has a great arm. He’s very smart,” Matthews said. “He’s always up there talking to the coaches, Coach Lindsey. I’m just impressed with him. He kind of reminds me of Baker Mayfield in some ways with his passing game.”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn says the competition for the starting quarterback position will continue into preseason camp, when junior Sean White will be fully recovered from an arm injury.
“I think Jarrett and Sean are two very similar players,” said Johnson, who ran for 895 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. “Both of them like to be the leader. Both of them like to command the offense. Both of them have supreme confidence in themselves. So they’re never going to go out there and not believe they’re going to be successful.
“To me, that’s what you look for in a quarterback, the command, the poise. I think both of them are very similar. Jarrett got to show what he can do today. I think he did very well. Now, they’ve still got to battle it out. It’s just one spring. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Arkansas Derby by the numbers.
By Christina Moore
Arkansas Derby day at Oaklawn Park normally draws over 60,000 fans to the picturesque track in Hot Springs, Ark. (Photo/Eclipse Sportswire)
Oaklawn Park hosts the final major prep race on the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands on Saturday, and the Arkansas Derby is shaping up to be a fitting finale to a Derby road that has had plenty of twists and turns. Find some of the more interesting facts and figures about the historic Arkansas Derby below.
1- The number of Triple Crown winners who ran in the Arkansas Derby. American Pharoah won the race before sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 2015.
1 1/8 miles- Distance of the race since its inception.
1:46 4/5- The fastest time the race has been completed in, when Althea won in 1984.
2- The race had two winners in 1960, when 19 horses entered and it was run in two separate divisions.
4- Record number of Arkansas Derby victories by trainer Todd Pletcher, who is slated to run Rebel Stakes winner Malagacy in this year’s race.
6- The number of Kentucky Derby winners that raced in the Arkansas Derby, including three since 2004. Arkansas Derby runners also have eight Preakness wins and seven Belmont wins.
7- Seven of the last 10 winners of the race had names comprised of one word. The three that didn’t: Papa Clem (2009), Line of David (2010) and American Pharoah (2015).
10 ½ lengths- The distance Curlin won the 2007 edition by, a record margin of victory.
17- Record number of horses to run in one edition of the race. It happened on three occasions: 1971, 1972 and 1974. The smallest field size was five, in 1949.
81st– Inaugurated in 1936, this year is the 81st running of the Arkansas Derby.
170- The number of Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs in the race, including 100 to the winner, 40 for second, 20 for third and 10 for fourth.
1945- World War II caused the cancellation of the Oaklawn Park spring meet, including the Arkansas Derby, in 1945. The meet was run in the fall instead but there was no Derby.
$4,110- Dollars earned by Holl Image with his win in the first Arkansas Derby, in 1936.
65,000- Estimated attendance on Arkansas Derby day 2016.
$1 million- Purse of the 2017 race, with $600,000 of that reserved for the winner.
$14,085,045- Total dollars bet on Arkansas Derby day in 2016.
1- The number of Triple Crown winners who ran in the Arkansas Derby. American Pharoah won the race before sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 2015.
1 1/8 miles- Distance of the race since its inception.
1:46 4/5- The fastest time the race has been completed in, when Althea won in 1984.
2- The race had two winners in 1960, when 19 horses entered and it was run in two separate divisions.
4- Record number of Arkansas Derby victories by trainer Todd Pletcher, who is slated to run Rebel Stakes winner Malagacy in this year’s race.
6- The number of Kentucky Derby winners that raced in the Arkansas Derby, including three since 2004. Arkansas Derby runners also have eight Preakness wins and seven Belmont wins.
7- Seven of the last 10 winners of the race had names comprised of one word. The three that didn’t: Papa Clem (2009), Line of David (2010) and American Pharoah (2015).
10 ½ lengths- The distance Curlin won the 2007 edition by, a record margin of victory.
17- Record number of horses to run in one edition of the race. It happened on three occasions: 1971, 1972 and 1974. The smallest field size was five, in 1949.
81st– Inaugurated in 1936, this year is the 81st running of the Arkansas Derby.
170- The number of Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs in the race, including 100 to the winner, 40 for second, 20 for third and 10 for fourth.
1945- World War II caused the cancellation of the Oaklawn Park spring meet, including the Arkansas Derby, in 1945. The meet was run in the fall instead but there was no Derby.
$4,110- Dollars earned by Holl Image with his win in the first Arkansas Derby, in 1936.
65,000- Estimated attendance on Arkansas Derby day 2016.
$1 million- Purse of the 2017 race, with $600,000 of that reserved for the winner.
$14,085,045- Total dollars bet on Arkansas Derby day in 2016.
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
emoriesofhistory.com
1921 - The first live sports event on radio took place this day on KDKA Radio. The event was a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.
1940 - Andrew Ponzi set a world's record in a New York pocket billiards tournament when he ran 127 balls straight.
1947 - Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball history. He played in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1966 - Emmett Ashford became the first African-American major league umpire.
1999 - Spain's José María Olazábal won the 63rd Master golf tournament.
2001 - In Johannesburg, South Africa, 43 people died during a stampede at a soccer match at Ellis Park stadium. Another 160 were injured.
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